Jim Jarmusch, Selina Gomez and Tilda Swinton talk gender imbalance and the role of teenagers in our society at The Dead Don’t Die press conference in Cannes

Jim Jarmusch and the cast of The Dead Don’t Die discuss their greatest fears and how the future of the world lies in the hands of young people

Jarmusch’s zombie-horror comedy premiered last night to mixed reviews – much of the criticism focusing on tone, whether the film is truly fatalistic in its outlook or contains seeds of hope for the future. The American director and his talented cast on-hand – Chloë Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Selena Gomez and a mischievous Bill Murray – were keen to express their personal leanings towards the latter. A key plot point in the feature involves polar fracking, and Jarmusch mentioned that the sense of apathy towards addressing such threats, particularly among corporations, “disturbs me and scares me a lot.”

Gomez, meanwhile, cited social media as her greatest fear: “[It’s] been terrible for my generation… I understand that it’s amazing to use your platform, but it scares me how exposed these young girls and young boys are.” But the director, in response to Selena herself, spoke about how his hopes for the future lie with young people: “I love teenagers. They define our clothes, our style, our music… And yet [they] are treated quite badly, mostly, and told to grow up… I’m with the teenagers. I really appreciate them.” He pointed specifically to the climate change efforts of the Sunrise movement – though again, Jarmusch stressed that the window of time to make a difference was rapidly reducing.

Swinton, when asked the inevitable question about gender imbalance – only four films in competition were directed by women – made the case that there are plenty of female filmmakers out there who weren’t being given the opportunity to gain the same amount of exposure as their male counterparts. “We need to look at the canon… we need to buy tickets for films by women… it all exists, we all need to pay attention to it and bring it up.”

Murray’s greatest fear? “I find Cannes frightening.” The moderator shot back that at least there aren’t any zombies on the Croisette. “Says you,” replied Murray.

Sam Gray
Photo: John Phillips/ Getty Images

The Dead Don’t Die is released nationwide on 12^th July 2019. Read our review here.

Read more reviews from our Cannes Film Festival 2019 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Cannes Film Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for The Dead Don’t Die here: